Guardian
by The Village Scribe
Summary: In a mystical land where monsters assault the human race mercilessly, men and women called hunters take it upon themselves to guard the people of their village. A Hunters oath, is an oath not taken lightly. Once taken, you are bound forever, or banished.
1. Chapter 1 Do You Want An Apple?

**Do You Want An Apple?**

A young man walked up to the counter in the Gathering Hall where the details of every Guild sponsored assignment were taken care of. He watched as Niasha, the girl in charge of hunters ranked one through three, shuffled through stacks of papers, wrote in various ledgers, and pushed her blond hair out of her eyes.

"I'll be with you in a moment." she said in an authoritative voice, without looking up.

He smiled, "Take your time." he said, "I'm not in a hurry."

His strong, friendly sounding voice and patient manner made the girl look up. He wore a simple brown shirt, that was stretched by his broad shoulders, a pair of blue pants, and brown leather boots. Long brown hair hung over his soft, brown eyes. Eyes that often showed compassion for children orphaned by the death of parents who had been hunters, yet still burned with hatred for the monsters responsible. He looked back at her, following her eyes as they probed his body.

"No armor?" she said finally.

"I stopped at home first." he smiled again. "Told you I wasn't in a hurry."

"Ah, I see, down to business, what can I do for you?"

"I would like to report a completed assignment." he stated with mock pride.

Naisha turned around and pulled a leather bound book off the shelf behind her and opened it. " Your were supposed to kill the bulldrome bothering miners in the mountains, am I correct?"

The hunter nodded.

"Then will have to ask that you show proof of your..."

Before she had time to complete her sentence, he had placed the giant snout of a bulldrome on the counter in front of her. She jumped back, and giggled.

"Couldn't you have carved something like a tusk, or something else less creepy?"

The hunter smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. Naisha gestured for him to take back the giant pigs nose, and proceeded to make marks in the book. When she had finished, she walked into the back room and returned with a small bag made from the stomach of a kelbi. She slowly untied the strings and counted out the equivalent of 600z represented by coins of varing individual value, and pushed them across the counter to the eager hunter, who scraped them into a similar pouch on his belt.

"Thanks, don't know what I'd do without you." the young man smiled.

Naisha glowed.. "No problem, I am always happy to pass out the Guilds money to hardworking hunters such as yourself."

He walked toward the door, and turned his head as Niasha called to him, "Make sure to take on another quest very soon, the monsters won't kill themselves!"

The wooden floor of the guild hall creeked with every step as continued his walk out the door. Throughout his time as a hunter, he became aware of which ones creaked and which ones didn't. He knew the Gathering Hall like the back of his hand. As he neared the end of the path a small pig ran up to him and grunted. Since he was not trying to get anyplace fast, he knelt down and scratched it between its ears, eliciting a squeal of delight from the pink animal. He stood up and started to walk away, but the pig bumped into his leg, obviously ready for another scratching, and knocked him into another man, and the two of them fell to the ground, in a shower of curses, and semi-liquid dirt.

"Daedrich!" he exclaimed as he recognized who he had collided with.

"Rip! Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you since our last hunt!" observed Daedrich. "That was a Giadrome, I'm thinkin'. Am I right? Dang, that was a while ago." The dark skinned man gave Rip a hard slap on the back. "How're you doin'?"

"Eh... fine I guess. Just finished up a bulldrome assignment today, nothing impressive, just a quick hunt to pay the bills"

"Thats great man. Hey, I'll catch you later, I have to collect some overdue bounty." The man bounded up the path to the Gathering Hall.

Rip waved, and walked in the direction of the market. The Market was a busy, noise filled place. An orchestra of screaming children, persistent vendors, and disgruntled Aptonoth filled the air every day, giving it a tense atmosphere. Off to Rip's right, an old woman hired out the services of felynes from a pack on her back. Feeling particularly ornery, Rip pulled some felvine from his pouch and tossed it to the felynes, smirking as they fought for the delectable treat. He soon felt guilty, and apoligized to the old woman and threw her a coin and kept walking. Eventually he heard the unmistakable sound of punches, and grunting, as two men fought in front of a fruit stand. He walked over, and asked a woman who observed from a safe distance, cowering inside her pink robes.

"What set them off?" he asked recognizing two brothers, grown men, who were always getting in arguments over stupid things.

The woman scowled. "The usual. The younger one makes a stupid comment, and the older one punches him. Nothing new."

Rip walked into the middle of the fight, and bashed their heads together, leaving them dazed. "What the hell are you doin?" he asked.

The oldest one started to stand up, but Rip made a fist, and he sat back down again.

"You think you're so bad ass, well.... you're not." he said for lack of anything better to say. He walked past the woman he had talked to, hearing her say; "That was profound" , to which his reply was, "I know right?"

Deciding that his day had had enough activity so far, he slowly walked over to an apple tree and sat down with his back leaned up against the trunk, and sighed.

"You too huh?" said an attractive female voice from the other side of the tree.

Rip raised an eyebrow, surprised, having not known that anyone else was near. "If you mean tired, yes. If not, explain."

He heard the owner of the voice stand up, and soon she was standing in front of him staring down at him with shiny eyes full of adventure like an untamed horse.

"No silly. What I meant is, is this your spot?"

Rip raised his other eyebrow.

"You know, the place where you come to get away from it all, and think?"

What the heck? muttered Rip to himself. "Uhh... yeah actually it is."

"Great! We can share it now, and get away together!" She paused and held out a hand. "I'm Lily."

Rip hauled himself to his feet, and took her small hand in his, and gave it a gentle shake, making a small gasp escape her thin lips. "My name is Rip." he said with a crooked smile. He let go of her hand and looked over her shoulder to where the fight had been moments ago, noticing that everything was back to normal.

"You want an apple?" Lily asked reaching up and plucking one of the precious fruits from the tree's branches.

Rip shook his head. He liked this girl. She was active, and alert, and had a nice air about her. She would be a great partner on a hunt. Lily frowned and took a bite of the apple, and threw the rest on the ground. She quickly started a new conversation, choosing a topic that made Rip think that she had read his mind. "I fight with dual swords, I prefer my encounters to be up close instead of hiding behind rocks, and firing an occasional shot every few minutes. How bout you? What do you fight with?"

Rip came to his sense and replied."I am the proud owner of a Ravager Blade Plus. I too prefer an upfront battle to hiding behind rocks." he said sitting down again, only to be jerked to his feet again by Lily.

"Hey pal, if we are goin to go on a hunt together, you gotta get ready. No sitting down now, or during the hunt."

"Who said anything about a hunt?"

"Well, I did but I felt you would agree once the idea sunk in for a little bit." She flicked the hair out of her eyes, and gave him a look. "Has it sunk in yet? Look, the sun is setting. If you are going to be ready by tomorrow, I suggest you leave now, and rest later. I want to see your handsome face at the Gathering Hall tomorrow bright and early."

Lily took off down the road with light footsteps, humming to herself, not once turning back to look at the young man she left behind who was shaking his head and smiling. If he was going to hunt tomorrow, he was going to have to get some rest. He rolled his eyes, wondering why he hadn't put his foot down and said knew the answer well. Hunting with her would be an experience he did not want to miss, as strange at it might be, he felt he should go through with it. Kicking a fallen apple across the ground he made his way home, watching as vendors closed their stalls, and others headed home. Tomorrow would be a big day.

* * *

Rip awoke to the unmelodious sound of a crow in the tree outside his bedroom window, and sat up thinking he was on a hunt, and prepared himself to fend off a dangerous beast. Finding himself safe at home in his bed, he relaxed, taking time to rub the sleep out of his eyes, and stretched his muscular limbs until the joints cracked. He heard giggling, and rubbed his eyes again as he watched Lily tip toe into the room.

"Going somewhere?" Lily asked, noticing that he was on the edge of the bed. She tossed an apple at the half awake hunter. Miraculously he caught it, giving it a confused look.

"Thanks?" he said sarcastically.

"I made you breakfast." she said matter-of-factly as she left the room. Rip perked up.

"What is it?" he asked, hopeful for a meal cooked by someone other than himself. He had eked by on his own cooking for so long, that anything to give him a break from it was a welcome change.

"You're holding it." she stated poking her head back in to see his disappointed face. "I'm sorry," she said, a frown coming to rest on her usually beaming features. "I really was going to make you breakfast, but your pantry is empty. The only thing I found was this cute little piglet looking for crumbs. You didn't tell me you liked animals!" The pig walked into the room as she spoke, and investigated a stack of blankets in the corner.

Rip groaned recognizing it as the one he had petted the day before. Great. Noticing the apple in his hand he tossed it at the pig, who accepted it as though it were a gift from the gods.

"What is it with you and apples anyway?" he said more to himself than her. But she heard him and laughed musically, carrying the still eating the pig out of the room. Rip shook his head and stood up. "How did you even get in? Weren't the doors locked?" As soon as he said it, he wondered why he had. He was just going to have to get used to surprises while spending time with her.

"I told your neighbors i was here to clean for you, and that I had forgot my key. They showed me where you keep yours. Under the mat? Can you get anymore obvious?" she walked over to him, and put her arms around his waist giving him a hug. "It's fine. Your secret is safe with me." she pulled herslef closer, and pulled away quickly. "Well, I think its about time we left. Get your armor on big guy."

Lily left the room, and Rip put on his full kut-ku armor, and heaved his greatsword into its sheath on his back. It was now or never. He met her in his front yard sitting on a bench throwing stones into a pond that, due to neglect had gotten scummy.

"Nice threads!" exclaimed the female hunter, as he walked out."Pink is definitely your color."

"Thanks." Rip slid his arm around her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. "Glad you like it. So what kind of hunt did you have in mind?"

Lily pursed her lips, and looked off into the distance letting him know she was thinking. The two started walking to the Gathering Hall, and began to talk as they did so, ignoring the beautiful signs showed morning was officially there. Birds flew around aimlessly, and the sun peaked over the edge of the trees to spy on the little village, and give light to its awakening population.

"I was thinking we take on a Yian kut-ku, but you seem to have vanquished more of those than I care to know, so we can pick something else."

Rip shook his head. "That sounds great, our first hunt together should be relatively easy since we are not familiar with how the other person will act in a fight."

"It's settled then." smiled Lily. "A kut-ku it is."

* * *

**So sorry for the slow first chapter. The next chapter is where the action starts. I felt like the characters needed to develope a relationship as the readers read, rather than drop them in the middle of something that they don't know how it began. Next Chapter will be up soon. As for this one, I hope you will leave reviews as you see fit. I welcome any criticism, as I prefer to see my faults so I can fix them. Hope there is some interest. **


	2. Chapter 2 Unexpected Fury

**Unexpected Fury**

Rip sat at the table in the Gathering Hall sipping a beer, and earning a look of disaproval from Lily. She sat down next to him and took the beer from his hand before it consumed him, rather than him consuming it. Taking a hint, he stood up, and walked over with her to the bulletin board. This was where all hunts began. Picture it; a huge piece of wood hanging on the wall, riddled with nail holes, barely visible undernieth countless pieces of paper in different handwriting all saying one thing. Trouble. Rip walked up and selected a thick peice of paper with large writing, requesting that a group of conga be removed from a remote village located in the jungle. Not what he was there for. Lily reached to the top of the board and untacked a peice of paper that they both knew as soon as they looked at it, was what they needed.

"Help," read Rip in a monotone voice displaying his enthusiasm. "My son left some meat outside our house after a kelbi hunt, and it attracted a Yian Kut-ku. It destroyed our home and has taken up residence in the area. Please slay the foul beast. ~ Gareth the Carpenter."

A few of the people in the guild hall had stopped what they were doing to hear him read curious to see what he had chosen. Among them was the bartender who chuckled and went back to wiping the beer mugs set before him. A thankless job.

Avoiding the creaking boards this time, Rip walked over to the counter with Lily following, and presented the peice of paper to Niasha, who gave him a smile of recognition. This time instead of making him wait, she stopped what she was doing and took the paper.

"Kut-ku I see." she said

"Mhmm."

"Will you be the only member of this hunting party?" Naisha inquired licking her fingers, and turning a page in her ledger.

"Today it will be her, and myself." Rip nodded back at Lily, and picked some dirt out of his boot.

Niasha turned around to her bookshelf and found the records for the two hunters, and filled in a page in each one. Closing them triumphantly, she returned them to the shelf, and made a sweeping motion with her hand, as if to shoo them away.

"It's all taken care of. You have four hours to get ready if you need. If not, you're all set. Happy hunting!" she said, repeating the phrase she said dozens of times a day.

The two Hunters walked out the back door of the Gathering Hall, ready to travel to the Hills. An old Felyn with a backpack watched them leave, a look of longing in his eyes, as if he wished he could go with them. Neither of them noticed. The old cat's head sunk as the door creaked shut, and the Hunters were gone.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

One Day Later

It was the second day of the hunt, and Rip was beginning to get impatient. Though he had grown to like Lily more and more over the course of the first day, but slow hunts bothered him more than anything. The two hunters walked side by side through a heard of aptonoth's making small talk and laughing at cheesy jokes. After a while Rip looked down at his armor, being reminded of the monsters who had unwillingly sacrificed their lives so that he could use their hide to defend himself from more like them, and laughed. "Of all Kut-ku I have hunted, none of them have eluded me this long."

Lily shrugged her shoulders. "Some hunts just take longer than others that's all. You need to be patient. Don't rush things so much."

Rip only half heard her, since he was dodging the foot high dung heaps that decorated the landscape around the massive gray herbivores.

"You're too reckless." she continued. "One day it will cost you."

She was right. Rip was too reckless. For a hunter of his rank he was exceptional, and he knew it. He wasn't really cocky as you would think, he just overstepped his boundaries and seemed to feel as if there were no limit to his skill. This turned the heads of many young females who were attracted to his muscled form, composed attitude, and even more so, his ability to be sensitive when appropriate. This turned the heads of some officials in the other direction thinking him careless.

Rip was about to open his mouth to speak, but stopped. Lily was about to ask him what was wrong, but she saw what had made him stop, and the words she was about to speak skipped into her head, and right back out as her eyes took over her concentration, and focused all her senses on the object ahead. "Woah," she said

In front of the two hunters about twelve feet away, was the head of a Yian Kut-ku.

"Yeah", said Rip, his voice taking on a nervous tone."Those flies must think its cool too. They moved in."

Lily laughed not catching the anxiousness in his voice.

It was true, the head was the dream pad of any fly. The eyeballs oozed a thick gray liquid. One had even fallen out pulling the decomposing optic nerve with it. The beak was cracked to the point of being unsalvagable, and in the cracks between every scale, dried blood was visible.

"What hunter would leave that behind?" whistled Lily. "Thats got some value attached to it."

"Not anymore it doesnt, and I think that whatever killed this was not interested in value." Rip grabbed her, and started to lead away from the head.

"What do you mean 'whatever killed this'.. dont you mean whoever...." her eyes got big as she understood what he meant. "You think a monster did this?"

Rip grimaced. "What else could it have been? No blade cuts that messily."

She looked and saw part of the spine nestled among tendons, blood and scale fragments. It looked ragged, as if it had been ripped off by something very big. "I'm thinkin that anything big enough to do that, is out of our league." Lily said becoming more serious than she had ever been since he had known her.

"Nah." disagreed Rip. "We can handle it."

Lily looked at him as if he had punched her in the face. A look which he took note of, and changed his mind.

"We could, but I don't want to risk that pretty face of yours." said Rip gesturing towards the severed head. "We dont want you to look like that."

Lily punched him, and pretended to be mad. She walked away from him, back the direction they had come. Rip followed her, determined to get her back to camp without meeting their new enemy. It was his duty to make sure she got back alive.

They began the long walk back to the camp. No sooner had they taken 10 steps when they heard the howl of the wind, which turned into wingbeats, and then the roar. Rip knew instantly that it was a Rathian. The two hunters looked up in time to follow the Rathian's flight right to the place they needed to walk.

"Dammit!" cursed Rip. "Run!"

The Rathian crashed to the earth almost knocking them to the ground. Rip hefted his Ravager blade, and jerked his head for Lily to leave, but instead she drew her swords and prepard for the bone jarring experience that lay ahead.

"No!" she said forcing a smile."I'm not going to let you take all the credit. Besides...We got this!"

Rip smiled at her courage, but then noticed that she forced back a gulp, as if she were terrified of her own words. He vowed to himself then and there that he would protect her. Even if it meant he lost his own life.

Ahead of them, the Rathian scratched the ground with its talons putting furrows in the already marred turf. The two hunters stood from a safe distance poised for action.

"Oh man," said Rip "This better work."

Lily gave him a surprised look, her green eyes flashing, but her attention quickly returned to the task at hand.

The beast leaned forward all of a sudden, an Rip prepared to dodge a charge, but instead, a jet of flame erupted from it's maw, and came hurtling toward them. Rip shoved the end of his sword into the ground, and held it diagonaly in front of them, and braced his shoulder against it. Rip grunted as the flames slammed into them. They poured over the edges of the sword passing over lily who knelt on the ground, but grazed Rip's arm, testing the flame resistant qualities of his armor. When the torrent ended, Rip charged the Rathian rolling twice to avoid its tail. Lily ran up his back as he sprung up from the last roll, and vaulted onto the monster, landing at the base of its she landed, she stabbed downward embedding both of her weapons in the monster's lower back.

The Rathian felt the effect of her swords, and began roaring, and spinning around to try to find the threat. Rip slammed his greatsword down on the enraged Rathian's foot, cutting off a few of its talons. It slumped, almost falling over. Attempting to take this opportunity to further inflict damage, Lily withdrew her swords, and ran up its back; as she was running, she lost her balance, and one of her swords. She caught her self, but the sword flew out of her hand, and landed on the ground.

Between the monster's roars she hollered down to Rip, "I dont suppose you could get that, could you?"

Rip smiled anxiously, eyeing the Rathian. He ran over, picked up her sword, and tossed it up to her. She caught it, and began slashing at the place where the creature's wings met the body putting gashes in the softer hide. She felt the monster slump again as Rip attacked its legs. He swung his greatsword, at the ground clipping the underside of the wing. Using the momentum from his previous attack, he swung the blade horizontally cutting deeply into the Rathians right leg.

The Rathian spun around, and swatted him with its tail, flinging him fifteen feet away. With a mighty heave, accompanied by a howl of pain due to its many injuries, the monster leapt into the air with Lily on his back. She watched in terror as the ground shrunk around her, and Rip became smaller and smaller. Under her she felt the monster shaking, and a few seconds later it lurched. She watched as white balls of flame hurtled to the earth, narrowly missing Rip.

Rip appeared as if he was tryin to tell her something, but due to all the noise created by the Rathian, she could not understand a word he was saying. Finally getting over her fear, she took her swords in hand and shoved them into its neck. Her blade must have hit something vital, because the Rathian flinched, and immediatley stopped flapping. Rathian and rider plunged to the earth, and collided with a thud, that put a huge Rathian shaped imprint in the ground, and quite possibly knocked the earth out of its normal orbit. Lily fell off its back, and slammed into a large rock that they had barely missed, and fell from Rip's vision behind it. She was no longer moving.

Rip ran up and began attacking the stunned Rathian, not knowing that his hunting partner was equally stunned, or worse. He chopped off its tail, waking it up from its trancelike state, making it run to the other side of the clearing, and spin around to face him, like a bull at a bull fight. He started looking for Lily. He had last seen her on the creature's back as it was falling, but had put his arm over his eyes to sheild them from the dust and dirt that became airborne when they hit.

Soon he had no more time to look, for the Rathian, still thinking it had a chance, charged him. Running to the right in an attempt to dodge it, he saw her. She looked as though she were dead.

The Rathian thundered past, and Rip ran behind the rock with Lily, and looked her over for wounds. For the most part, her cephalos armor had done it's job. It had stayed on to protect her thin frame, keeping her lithe figure in tact. Except for the helmet. It had fallen from her head, and its fins had broken off. Her short, dark brown hair was matted with blood from a cut on the side of her head. His eyes traveled to hers, and saw that they were closed. She looked at peace, as though she were dead.

"Damn!" he muttered. Anger played onto his features, taking over his thoughts, and making him see red.

Turned, hearing the Rathian furiously searching for him, it wouldn't be long before it decided to leave, and he would not get the satisfaction of killing it. Taking her dual swords in hand, and leaving his sword on the ground next to her, he marched out into the open to confront his former prey that had now become his worst enemy. It began charging, as fast as a Rathian with a wounded leg can, and dove straight at him. He swung up onto its neck, which was as wide as a horse's back, and hung on with his legs for dear life. After few attempts by the infuriated Rathian to shake him, he took his borrowed weapons and gave the monster a bloody smile by cutting the soft skin at the corners of its mouth. After this attack, the rathian's bottom jaw hung uslessly, never to bite again. Satisfied with his work, Rip raised his weapons to finish the monster off. The monster had other ideas. It saw Lily laying on the ground and charged her. Just as they reached her Rip slid off its neck to defend her from any further injuries, and the monster crashed into the rock. Rip ran around behind it, over to where its severed tail was heavy, but he lifted it up so that the spiked end pointed up, and was at a slight angle, so that when the Rathian charged the spikes would plunge into its chest.

This should do it, he thought to himself. "Come and get some, you spineless sack of meat!" He yelled, happy that the Rathian didn't know the different between a good insult and a bad insult, because his was definitly a poor one. When it saw Rip holding up its tail, the creature screamed, deafening him, and making him want to drop the tail to cover his ears. But he didn't. The Rathian charged, and when it reached him, Rip let go of the tail and dove to the right, escaping being crushed by the falling monster. The spikes from its tail went deep into the Rathians chest, breaking off in the wound. It tripped and fell to the ground squirming. Rip took one of Lily's blades, walked over, and shoved it deep into the Rathian's eyes as it stood up. Even in its near death state, the Rathan did not give up. It reared back, and kicked out at Rip with the still sharp talons on its good foot. He was thrown across the clearing. His breast plate flew off, damaged beyond repair, and a huge gash appear on his chest on the opposite side of his heart. Then everything was silent. Rip looked over at the Rathian, as it lay on the ground groaning, as the poison entered its heart. Rip spit at the creature, smiling triumphantly as it breathed its last breath sparks flitting out of it's mouth as it's life left it.

Rip rolled over onto his back and fought to stay concious as he began to black out from exhaustion. Lily was safe, and he felt accomplished. As his eyes slowley shut, he thought he saw the furry face of a felyne approaching. Then, there was darkness.

**This was not exactly the battle that I had written down in my rough draft, but I felt that it needed a few changes. I will probably regret changing it later. This chapter had action which was lacking in the first chapter. Hope you found it to your enjoyment. As always leave reviews, as I am always trying to do better. **

**Ezakiel: Thanks for your review, I am thankful that you took the time to read my work, and leave your much heeded advice. I slipped in descriptions of Lily in this chapter as you suggested I do. It was much needed. The only description of her appearance in chapter one was that she had thin lips, and wild eyes. Not much to go on. Thanks again.**


	3. Chapter 3 Lone Hunter

After is clash with the Rathian, Rip had become a hero among the lower ranked hunters in the guild. At the same time, many of the guild officials changed their minds about him. While everyone was making a fuss about his victory, Rip had other things on his mind. After Lily's injury he had visited her at the guild where she was being taken care of by doctors and a group of felynes that had mysteriously volunteered at the last minute. Though many hours of sleep had been forfeit in favor of watching over her, Rip felt it was necessary for his sanity to know how she was doing at all times. Lucky for him, her injury had not been too serious and her recovery took place inside of a week. She outwardly objected to him spending so much time with her saying that it was a waste of his time, but secretly she appreciated it. When she was well enough to walk around, the two took walks in the apple orchard that was in the southern part of the town. Lily was determined to not let her accident stop her from hunting during the next few days, but Rip was not so understanding of this idea. He felt that she should wait a while longer.

They sat in his house at this moment arguing that very thing.

"You know I can't let you do that." he said, clearly tired of arguing with her over this subject. Every-time he saw her it was brought up.

"Why not?" She asked defiantly, " If this had happened to you, you would be out there again, doing even stupider things than you had done to get hurt in the first place."

The male hunter scratched the stubble on his chin, and sighed. She was right, and what was worse, was, he had no argument for her last statement.

Unfortunately for him she was winning. He scooted back in his chair, and stood up in disgust, looking at the floor. This earned a triumphant, but sorrowful look glance from Lily.

"Take me on a small hunt. Velocidrome, Hermitaur, whatever you want, just don't shut me out. If you won't take me, then I will find others who respect me like you once did."

Her last request made him look at her with pity instead of annoyance. Maybe all she wanted was to be with him, and do something that they both enjoyed doing. He was acting more like a parent, or an elder rather than a friend. He pursed his lips, and smiled. He had an idea. Taking Lily by the hand he lead her out of his house and down the familiar path to the Gathering Hall. She gave him a look but followed him anyway. Soon they were there, and the thick oak doors were already open and the voices of drunken hunters taking advantage of the bar greeted them. Rip wondered what the occasion was, but he didn't bother to ask. Lily wanted to go on a hunt, he would give her one. Rip guided her past the table in the center of the room where the drunken men were singing, to where a felyne dressed in yellow stood. He was surrounded by picks, and shovels, and colorful objects that Rip could not name. The felyne was inside a wooden structure made up of poles, and a large Popo skull sat on top of it. He hefted his large backpack, and watched as the two hunters approached, and scratched his ear furiously.

Rip spoke first. "My good felyne, would you by any cha..." The felyne interrupted him.

"Skip the formalities, what do you want?" he said in a loud voice.

"I hear you organize treasure hunts. What do you have for us right now?"

Lily gave him a dirty look, and then directed a fake smile back at the felyne.

"Let's see, the forest has not been looted in a while. How does that sound?"

Lily started to speak. "We were just there and..."

"It would be perfect." interrupted Rip.

Lily was about to protest when Daedrich, Rip's friend who he had run into on the steps, walk up, and slid one of his long arms around Lily's and his shoulders. He was tall and muscular, had shiny dark skin, and was one of the friendliest people you could ever meet. On his back he wielded two dual hammers, a one of a kind weapon, not worn by any other hunter. They were smaller than other hammers, but were still pretty heavy, one of the reasons why no one else had them. It took a man like Daedrich to wield such weapons. It had small spikes on each flat surface of the hammer head. His armor was made of Rathalos leather. It wasn't standard Rathalos Armor, but modified to be less bulky, and have less frills. Nothing about this man's appearance was normal or average, which gave him an interesting aura. One of mystery and respect, sending a message that he should not be challenged.

"Hey my friends, what sort of mischief are you up to today?" he smiled a full face smile, and looked at Rip.

"Just goin to loot the forest. A treasure quest." Rip said.

"Ahh." nodded Daedrich knowingly as Rip gestured with his eyes toward Lily.

The whole village had learned of her accident, which was part of the reason she didn't want to be coddled.

"Would you mind if I came along?" he asked, "We always talked about doin another quest."

Rip didn't have to think for a second. Another friend along meant more protection for Lily, and a chance to catch up with his old friend.

"Sure. why not?"

"WILL THAT BE ALL?" shouted the felyne.

"Yes." said Lily before more restrictions could be placed on the already boring upcoming quest.

"Ok then. You have two days to return to the Guild Hall. In that time, you may accumulate as many items as you can. Keep in mind that for every item you find, you have to give the guild one as well. With that in mind get out of my sight."

"Thanks." Said Rip. "And we're off!"

The trio marched out the door, and mounted three waiting aptonoths that would take them to the edge of the forest. Along the way Rip and Daedrich talked to eachother swapping stories, and generally catching up, tryin to include Lily when possible. Lily was not in the mood to participate. Her aptonoth was being stupid, and didn't seem to want her on his back, for it kept shaking, almost knocking her off.

They reached the edge of the forest. It wasn't really just a forrest, more like a ring of tree's surrounding a group of hills and a small mountain range.

Rip, Lily and Daedrich walked into the tree's, their hands on their weapons, not scared, but prepared. As soon as the first tree was behind them, they noticed the air get stuffier, and harder to breath. Leaves and small sticks covered the ground forming a natural carpet, and moss clung to the trees for dear life.

Daerich was already bored, since he knew that there was probably not going to be a big fight coming up, and he shuffled through the dead leaves staring at the ground. It got to the point where he counted how many rocks were on the ground that he passed.

Rip had other things on his mind. He kept seeing a pair of glowing eyes lurking in the dark spaces between the trees off to his left. It would stair at them for a while from a distance, hidden in a bush sitting on a tree branch, and then would be gone. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, but he found some comfort in his observation that whatever owned those eyes was small enough to fit in a tree. He kept this silent however, since he didn't want Lily trying to investigate it. Instead he kept a wary and watchful eye, and put himself in between the yellow glowing orbs, and Lily so it would have to go through him to get to her.

"Wow, this really sucks." Lily said. "Bad. I haven't ever been on a more boring quest in my life. Maybe, if we actually fought something, it would be worthwhile, but nooooooo! We have to look in the grass for multi-colored bugs, and poke at rocks, in hopes of a gem or two falling out. Nice."

"It will pick up." said Rip assuredly, genuinely hoping that it did, as he was itching for a good fight too.

As if it had heard Rip, a velocidrome leapt out of the trees, shrieking like a demon. Rip Rolled forward drawing his great-sword . Daedrich pulled out his dual hammers and took on a steely, hardened look, gritting his teeth and crouching slightly. Lily whipped out her dual swords, and plunged them both into the velocidrome's side while it was concentrating on Rip and Daedrich. Daedrich ran forward with Rip hot on his heals, and swung both hammers at the same time into the side of the velocidrom' s head, stunning it long enough for Lily to pull out her swords. Rip hefted his sword, and swung downward with all his might, cutting the monster in half just below the neck. Daedrich got a wild look in his eye as the vertebrae snapped and the body twitched its last twitch. The eye's rolled back into its head, and glazed over as it died.

"What was that for?" Lily asked. "Over? just like that? You're no fun." she proceeded to cut off the beasts bright red crest, and tuck it away in her bag, while Daedrich cut sections of the hide off, and scraped the scales off into a small pouch he had.

Rip started. He had never heard Lily use profanity before. "My bad." he said. Not feeling any different about the matter than he had when he had dealt the final blow.

Lily shook her head and walked ahead muttering.

"You know, you should ease up just a little bit. Whispered Daedrich. "You're going about this the wrong way. You're being a control freak. Since when are you like this? Usually you're pretty easy going and careless."

Rip shook his head. "I don't know, I want her to be safe. But she doesn't seem to get that."

"Trust her. She fought that Rathalos, just to be with you, and to prove herself to you."

"She doesn't have to prove herself to me. Wow. Aight. I'll back off all together. What happens, happens."

They ran to catch up to her. Rip walked up next to Lily and walked next to her and promised her a good fight before the day was over, and gave her a hug which was awkward in all the armor, but still served a purpose. All was good for the time being. Rip felt good about the whole situation, and his mind seemed to leave his body, which was most unfortunate, for just as his head entered the clouds, he tripped, and fell flat on his face, bringing him literally back down to earth.

"Thanks Daedrich. I appreciate that. I really do." said Rip wiping mud from his mouth and eyes, giving him the appearance of having a mask.

Lily burst into musical laughter at Daedrich's attempt at hiding what he had done, and tears as a result of laughter sprung from her eyes when she saw the mud on Rip's face. Despite his situation Rip couldn't help laughing. He soon stopped, for off his right he heard an unfamiliar laugh approaching. About forty feet away there was a man about Rip's age leaning up against a tree watching. He had black hair, wide shoulders, and wore no armor. A bow gun hung off of his back, and a bag, assumably containing his ammo, hung lazily from his belt. His eyes now glinted in a smile, but it was obvious that they had seen more than their fair share of hardship, and laughs were a rare occurrence. His arms were crossed across a broad chest. A huge scar ran the length of his entire right forearm.

Rip stood up and walked over to the young man and stuck out his hand. "I'm Rip." He stated. "These are my friends Daedrich, and Lily." he gestured back to his smiling companions who nodded.

The young man unfolded his arms, and shook Rip's hand. His hand had an intense grip, and could have choked any Rathalos stupid enough to come within fifty feet of it's mysterious owner.

"I am sebastian. He said. "It's always nice to run into other hunters. What you guys after?"

"Treasure." said Lily flatly. "Rare items. Fun stuff like that.

"Ah. I see. That's great. I guess." he smiled and put his hand on Daedrichs shoulder, and started walking. They all followed.

"Follow me. I think this place will shorten your trip significantly. About two miles east there is a cave with many things of uncertain value. As far as I'm concerned, it's yours. I haven't been there for a while, but I'm sure it hasn't changed much. It's kinda out of the way."

Sebastian looked questioningly at them as they appeared to be making up their minds.

Lily said yes right away, and Rip shrugged his shoulders, and Daedrich didn't say do anything at all other than follow them as they began their trek.

"So what town are you from exactly?" asked Lily. "I don't remember seeing you around Kokoto."

Sebastian laughed, and all of a sudden became serious. "When i was young my family lived in a town called Maltharice. When I was about five, there was some sort of a crisis, so we packed up, and started to come to Kokoto. On the way there we were attacked. My mother was killed, and my father hid me in a cave, and ran off to lure it away from me. I have not seen him since. As of right now i belong to no town at all. i live in the wild. I will appear in a town every now and then to have armor or weapons made, but thats it." He laughed again. "Story of my Li..." he stopped as Rip stumbled. "You really have a problem with walking don't you?"

Rip glared at Daedrich, who denied tripping him again. He looked, and found a flat piece of stone sticking out of the ground.

"Wonder what that is?" wondered Lily, interested creeping into her voice in-spite of her dislike for the quest they were on.

"It's got some markings on it." observed Rip.

"Might be worth something." offered sebastian. "I suggest you take it back with you."

"I agree." said Lily.

Rip unearthed the stone the rest of the way.. and put it in his pack.

Just then there was a chorus of shrieks, as a pack of velociprey leapt out at them as if from thin air. Rip drew his great sword, and rolled into attack position, while Daedrich drew his duel hammers, and mashed in the skulls of a few oncoming velociprey. Sebastian pounced onto a rock with the agility of a felyne. He pulled out his bow gun and loaded it with lightning speed, and began to pick off the blue monsters. Lily took a more stylized approach to the situation. She drew her blades, spun them around her arms, and sunk them both into a monster that was about to tackle sebastian. There had to be fifty of the creatures. When one was cut down, two more would pop up in in its place. Everywhere the shiny blue of their scales could be seen, second only to the scarlet stain that had re-colored the armor of each hunter in the space of 2 minutes. Daedrich was an animal. A velopciprey had jumped on his shoulders, and though it looked to weigh upwards of 150 pounds Daedrich was still standing. He lunged backwards, smashing the veloprey into a tree, and curb stomping it when it hit the ground.

"Damn prey, thats what i thought!" he yelled.

Rip's sword was not meant to fight with, when there were other hunters running around all over the place, and mingling with his targets, so he was forced to lure some of the enraged, clueless creatures away, so as not hurt his friends. He cut two monsters in half with one swipe, and then used the momentum from that swing to launch another one skyward and watch it be vaporized by one of Sebastian's exploding crag bullets.

Sebastian yelled, and gave a thumbs up to Rip, as he jumped off the rock. He ran over to Rip. "Cover me, will ya?" he said in a husky voice, focused with concentration, as he reloaded his weapon.

Rip held up his Ravager Blade Plus, and used it as a shield for him and Sebastian to hide behind, as Sebastian shot velociprey through the gaps in the teeth on the heavy weapon. When every shot went off, the sound wave bounced off the metal in rip's sword making an amplified metallic clinking sound in addition to the roar it made otherwise. Rip's ears started to hurt, but he kept angling the blade between the monsters and sebastian, stuffing moss in his ears to drown out some of the sound. When they heard the metallic sound created by the two hunters weapons, the velociprey flinched. They all looked up to where it came from, resulting in a death of a few of their comrades.

"This is where we run." said Sebastian folding up his gun, and putting in its place on his back. He ran over to rock, and pulled some shells from his pouch, and stuffed them into his weapons magazine.

"Agreed." said Rip. "There's only ten left, but they're all coming at once."

As he was hefting his sword onto his back, a velociprey jumped onto his chest, pinning him to the ground. The scales of his kut-ku armor were hard for the velociprey to stand on, and it kept slipping. Rip grabbed it's mouth, and held it shut. He heard Lily yell, and an agonizing scream from the velociprey as the tip of one of her swords protruded from the lifeless creatures neck.

Rip pushed the monster off of himself, and started to stand up. Lily grabbed his hand, and helped him to his feet. She patted him on the back, and gave him a smile like she had the day they met under the tree. Even though adrenaline was coursing through her body, and her muscles were tense, her eyes were so soft and peaceful, and Rip almost forgot where he was.

"I think that makes us even." she said.

In the background, Daedrich pulled on a velociprey's tail to keep it from getting at Sebastian, who was shooting monsters that were behind Daedrich.

Rip started to disagree with her, but smiled and nodded instead. This was the first moment the two had had together for a while without being argumentative. He kissed her forehead, and brushed her hair out of her eyes, smiling. "Thanks,"

Only three of the blue velociprey remained.

Sebastian shot them all in the space of three seconds, his powerful bow-gun not giving the monsters a chance to think. The Bullets thudded into two of them in mid-air twisting their flying bodies into weird shapes, as one force collided with another. The third stopped dead in its tracks, fought for a second, then gave in to the inevitable.

Rip looked around at all the bodies that littered the ground, and smiled at their handiwork. He wanted to carve, but there was no way on earth that he was going to be able to carry the stuff. He turned bodies over, kicked limbs out of his way, and gave the battlefield a thorough search, carving here and there. In the end he came up with a couple crests, a bag full of random scales and shells, and a small bone knife he had found on the ground. He wondered who had made it? The hilt was too small for human hands, and could only occupy three of his fingers. He heard what sounded like a cat, and looked up. The others had heard it as well, for all eyes were trained on the bushes which were moving. Something in them, and judging by the noise, it wasn't very big. Daedrich put his hand on his hammer, and Rip scowled. Lily ran up to the bushes, and reached into them.

Rip barely had time to tell her not to. But before he got over what she had done, a dark furry creature sprang out of the bushes, ran down Lily's back, and slammed into Rip.

"Melynx. I hate these guys." muttered Rip. He started, and watched the evil version of the felyne run off with one of his bags. He threw a rock at it, and it dropped the bag, turned around and charged him with uncharacteristic aggression. Just as the creature reached him, Rip planted a kick in its furry stomach, sending it flying. "Thought so."

Lily gasped, and went over to the melynx, and cradled it in her arms. It's eye's were half shut, only small slices of its eyeball were visible.

"Lily, don't do this." muttered Daedrich. "You'll be sorry."

Sebastian, a man of few words, looked on in amusement.

It all happened at once. The melynx opened its eyes, ripped Lily's necklace off, and sped away, and into a hole in the ground.

"Are you kidding me?" she stormed

"We warned you." chided Rip, ducking a pine cone thrown by none other than Lily. They all laughed.

The two hunters got into a mock fight, while Sebastian, and Daedrich chatted by a huge rock that resembled a human head so much that it could have been a carving.

Finally Sebastian broke up the fight, and cleared his throat. "The cave is not far, we can make it by nightfall, sleep there at night, and head back to town in the morning."

They all had forgotten their goal, and decided that spending the night in a cave would be a pretty good deal, so they pick up their carves, and began the walk east. It had been a fairly productive day. Daedrich carried a full velociprey on his back, and still managed to be at the front of the pack. Then came Rip, then Lily, and Sebastian brought up the rear carrying no carves.

There was no beaten path at all, so it was a good thing, they had a guide, or it would have taken a lot longer. Soon they reached their destination. Sebastian pointed to the cave opening, and when they looked they saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Rip had a feeling that these were the same eyes that had been watching him the whole trip, and walked ahead of all the others. The eyes did not move, didn't even blink. He started to walk a little slower. When he got close enough to see the owner of the eyes, he was shocked to find that it was a felyne. Rip felt as though he had seen it somewhere before. He opened his mouth to talk, but it held up a paw to its mouth, and nodded in the direction of his friends. They finally caught up, and when they were all gathered around the felyne, it began to speak.

"Greetings. My name is Conan."I have been expecting you. Especially you, my friend." He said looking at Rip. "I have watched you most carefully."

Rip was not at all surprised, but his face showed that he was. "Why might that be?"

"Hell, who cares, it's a dumb cat." muttered Daedrich, ready to go to sleep. His eyes stared lazily into space.

"That, is precisely why we weren't interested in you." said the cat with a smirk.

"You're really cute." said Lily.

"Ummm... thanks??" replied Conan with a confused look. "Anyway.... I will tell you tomorrow what is going on, as for tonight, continue with your plans. I will meet you outside the cave in the morning."

"See ya then." said Rip flatly. He was confused, yet partially apathetic. He wondered why they wanted him specifically, but didn't care about anything at all.

The felyne walked slowly into the distance, turning around a few times watching the tired party members enter the cave.

"He probably hates me, for kicking his friend." laughed Rip.

"Hardly. said Sebastian. "The felyne, and the melynx have never gotten along. The melynx have always been theives, and the felynes, scavengers. People tend to lump them both into one group like you just did, and take out their anger on the felynes for things that they didn't do."

"Crazy. So we have a civil war on our hands. Great." said Lily.

"I'd rather not get in the middle of it." said Daedrich. "I think we should lay low."

Sebastian stretched, and took off his bow-gun, and used his ammo pouch for a pillow. "I'm out. Don't wake me, or fear the wrath." he lay down, and nothing was heard from him for the rest of the night. Daedrich followed soon after. Lily and Rip made a fire and sat up a little bit later, cuddled up to keep warm.

When Lily wore her armor, she kept her feminine beauty, but looked a little bit more rugged at the same time. In the cave she took off her armor, and put on a simple garment that was made of a softer material, and curled up under a wool blanket that Rip had brought, putting her head on his shoulder. Both their backs were to the wall. Rip put his arm around her, and stroked her shoulder. Her skin was so smooth. She looked up at him with happy, tired eyes, full of love and emotion, and snuggled in closer. Soon he heard the rhythmic sound of her breathing, and soon, he too was asleep.


End file.
